The (Now-Overrated) ILX Top 100 Films of the 2000s Poll Results

maybe we should have a worst 100 films poll, and then we can be annoyed when someone actually likes something we think is shitty.

Dan I'd actually like you to talk more about this because I found 100% the opposite - the remembered pleasure of LOTR was it's "scope and wonder" absolutely - it had a map! It had long bits that were kind of boring, in which you could think about interesting things, like what sort of kings the ringwraiths had been! The movies seemed to want you to feel excited basically the whole time, which for me is a feeling that never co-exists with wonder?

To me, the books dragged quite a bit whenever Tom Bombadil appeared and when the kings/elves started pontificating. I didn't care about any of that stuff; I wanted to follow the journey of the Ring primarily and secondarily I wanted to follow Pippen and Merry. Most of the story told by the three movies was narrowed down to those competing threads, shot in some of the most gorgeous landscape caught on film on a scope that did much more to express the scope of the armies and the savagery of the fighting than the prose in the book could. The Ringwraith chases and the dash through Moria were far more breathtaking in the movie than in the books. The siege battle was far more terrifying. The various mad kings and how they defeated or succumbed to their conditions was infinitely more interesting; specifically the dude who tried to burn his son alive made way more sense in the movie. Saruman was a credible threat in and of himself as opposed to being Sauron's lackey and his battle with Gandalf was riveting. And Gollum was a triumph, coming across exactly as cunning, lost, conflicted, evil, hopeful and pathetic as he did in the book.

The third movie overdid the hobbit love and they didn't really handle the book's multiple endings as well as they could have (if they were going to keep that much of the end, they should have gone whole hog and let Saruman fuck up the Shire) but the ride all the way from Frodo's discovery of the Ring through Aragorn's honoring of the hobbits' contributions to their fight against Sauron was magnificent, thrilling and wonderful. I don't see how you can automatically divorce "wonder" from "thrilling"; your clarification seems to be saying "I liked the books better because there were more boring sections for my mind to wander."

I liked the books better cuz I was nine.

I liked the books better cuz I was nine.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Thursday, February 4, 2010 4:01 PM (13 seconds ago)

^^ this

i only saw one of the LOTRs (don't remember which) and will not watch another

Where's omar?

Sarahel - I know that if I make comments like that I should be prepared to back them up but I feel like crap right now and don't have the energy or desire to get into it. I didn't even get my act together enough to vote so I should just shut up now. Daria is, of course, right in saying that it's all a matter of taste. It's just interesting to read people's take on certain movies and wonder how in the world we could possibly think/feel so wildly differently about the same film

but i think that's why these polls are not my thing, even though i'm reading the thread and appreciate omar's work of course, i just can't account for taste or explain to anyone why i don't 'get' fantasy xposts2me

it's ok i didn't vote either!

It's just interesting to read people's take on certain movies and wonder how in the world we could possibly think/feel so wildly differently about the same film

I hear ya - and agree.

i like the books better because being a genius with language and storytelling >>>>>>> being a genius at pixels

I just assume everything else is a yuppie dbag. It gets me through the day.

I've read Joyce, Musil, Mann, Pynchon, taken a crack at Gaddis, and so fucking help me, those LOTR books are impenetrable.

i think i'm gonna watch capturing the friedmans tonight

Tipsy, how are we not supposed to side emotionally with Nicole Kidman in the end?

oh, we do. or i did. i actually laughed out loud.

but it's a cautionary story -- giving people uncontested power over other people will produce abuse and exploitation pretty much anywhere, and "civilized" people can find high-minded rationalizations for the worst kinds of behavior. all of which in turn sets the stage for anger and cycles of revenge.

which is why you don't structure a society to allow those kinds of things. if you want to protect yourself against the massacre, you build a social infrastructure that protects everyone. it's basically a case for social democracy in the form of a fable.

tbh, i hesitated to vote because i started the decade being a big cinema geek, but if i watched the same obscure/foreign/arty/whatever films at the end of the decade, many of them i see differently and don't like any more. and there are a lot of films where i recognize they have a style and are well crafted and of interest to a lot of people whose POV i respect, and yet my personal taste is, i hate them! (MULHOLLAND DRIVE)

I dunno if she was being polite, but Terry Gross seemed to be impressed by Team America.

I watched some South Park episodes with commentary on. One of the dudes had bought his mom a Prius, and the other was very concerned with indulgent child-rearing. They are apparently pals with Penn Jillete, who convinced them to be atheists or something, but it was after the Dawkins episode was finished.

I agree they are self-satisfied jerks but I found it hard to detect a proper libertarian lean other than their being self-satisfied jerks.

oops but excuse me, we can start a thing about david lynch later, not now. sorry. let's wait.

and there are a lot of films where i recognize they have a style and are well crafted and of interest to a lot of people whose POV i respect, and yet my personal taste is, i hate them! (MULHOLLAND DRIVE)

Daria otm!

I've read Joyce, Musil, Mann, Pynchon, taken a crack at Gaddis, and so fucking help me, those LOTR books are impenetrable.

― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 5, 2010 12:07 AM

I really think you need to be a kid. or more accurately, a kid 20 or 30 years ago

Kids these days with their Harry Potters and shit.

I am also prepared to hate on mulholland drive when the time comes

tbh, i hesitated to vote because i started the decade being a big cinema geek, but if i watched the same obscure/foreign/arty/whatever films at the end of the decade, many of them i see differently and don't like any more. and there are a lot of films where i recognize they have a style and are well crafted and of interest to a lot of people whose POV i respect, and yet my personal taste is, i hate them! (MULHOLLAND DRIVE)

― kicker conspiracy (b. favre ha ha) (daria-g), Friday, February 5, 2010 12:08 AM (58 seconds ago) Bookmark

haha yeah this is s.thing like my trajectory.

peter jackson's finnegan's wake

sorry, had a meeting....

the LOTR books may well be awful! i read them at age 12 because there was a family vacation in which we drove halfway across the midwest (boring) and then i had to spend several days at my grandma's house (boring) with nothing to do other than read LOTR (only books i had with me) or fight with my younger bratty cousins. at the time i had no sense for good writing vs bad writing.

lolz can't wait til Mulholland Dr places in the top 10

x-posts

I'm looking forward to that discussion about Mulholland Drive, because I loved it.

Speaking of which, I'm a little surprised there isn't more commentary about what people like about these movies instead of what they hate

I voted Almost Famous at #1. I just found it incredibly entertaining and watched it over and over again throughout high school. It also had a huge impact/resonance with me w/r/t music and music writing.

(I was surprised it's so hated on ILX, but then I remembered that ILX often hates thing that are inoffensive, fun and enjoyable.)

its so easy to laugh, its so easy to hate ;_;

+ earnest

I hated Almost Famous the first time I saw it, but decided to watch it a second time one night. It clicked for me. I don't know if I take any message away from it, but I definitely think it's a fine movie for what it is.

yeah, earnest things don't bother me (in music or in films) as long as that's not the only aesthetic happening

xxp - uh, it's kinda offensive from a feminist viewpoint.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/tripletsbellville.jpg

i loved it. the opening is fantastic, but i think it would have been wearying and distracting if the entire film had maintained that pace. as it was, i felt like i was missing out on the intricacies of much of the animation as things moved along.

― lauren

When the frenetic, fast-paced "short" segues into the deliberate main style of the movie it's just too delicious, like mmm settle in, get yr hot drink ready! Like sliding into a bubble-bath or something. The slow pace lets you really examine everything, in a way i can't remember doing since looking at picture books as a kid.

― Tracer Hand

It's an outstandingly conceived and designed film, right down to the very smallest of details. I have to admit to feeling slightly so whatish at the end though, even though it certainly never bored me. I suppose I was a bit nonplussed at the amount of effort that gone in to producing something with no real emotional content.

― chap

#73

The Triplets of Belleville
Sylvain Chomet
2003
France
(253 points, 10 votes)

cartoons count?

Almost Famous was the first time a movie's overwhelmingly positive reviews smothered me.

Triplets of Belleville

how is it offensive from a feminist viewpoint?

Daria - exactly. There are a lot of movies posted so far that are not my thing at all but I can understand why they appealed to other ppl. It's more the ppl who are saying that certain movies are awful or completely unwatchable when they're clearly not that bewilders me and makes me think they have shitty taste or be joyless bores. ;)

How is it offensive to feminists? I'm assuming you're reading a glorification of groupism into it, or something like that, which seems like a willful misreading of the film to me.

If anything, the Francis McDormand character's perspective is hugely privileged throughout the film, and the Kate Hudson narrative ends in total devastation and repudiation.

I don't remember much about it, but it did strike me at the time that you might have to be a heterosexual male to really appreciate AF

well, geez, look at her choice of sunglasses! and that faux French accent!

lately if i get about 20-30 min into a film and it seems unwatchable, i just don't watch it anymore. i suspect a lot of films named so far, i wouldn't care for, i don't know though..

I don't remember much about it, but it did strike me at the time that you might have to be a heterosexual male to really appreciate AF

it's one of my mom's all time favorite movies so maybe she (?) has some secrets she's been hiding from me.

lolz

I'm curious if saharel actually has a position here or is just challopsying.

sarahel*